BTG Finds Sweet Spot for Mid-Market Customers

While plenty of organizations are decommissioning their datacenters in favor of the cloud model, many are not comfortable with a leap to big public cloud providers.

That’s why Breakthrough Technology Group (BTG) is finding success with private cloud – the sweet spot for customers that no longer want to manage their own on-premises datacenters, but have reservations about moving their infrastructure to mass-market public cloud services.

“We often hear from customers that they don’t want to be in the datacenter business anymore,” said Joey Widener, vice president of business development.

“However, they are wary of public clouds, for example, because they have no control over where their data resides and don’t want to compete with other customers for resources.”

A second issue that BTG addresses is customers’ lack of expertise in virtual desktop and app delivery.

Companies that have successfully implemented server virtualization think it should be easy to implement desktop and app virtualization, but quickly find out that it’s a much different and more difficult process. They often decide a hosted service is the answer.

Delivering services on a private cloud foundation

Founded in 2007, BTG has created an effective differentiator by building a private cloud foundation for each customer, delivering Citrix-based services on top of this foundation and wrapping a single help desk around them.

These solutions appeal to mid-market customers, BTG’s target audience, because they combine the availability, scale and reliability of public cloud hosting with a higher level of management, insight and control.

BTG’s private cloud foundation, which is co-located in multiple AT&T datacenters, can provide complete isolation for each customer, and delivers a complete solution set, many of which are based on Citrix technologies, including:

Citrix XenDesktop and Citrix XenApp virtual desktops and apps

Dedicated Citrix ShareFile services with private data storage

Hosted Microsoft Exchange

Hosted voice solutions

Managed virtual machines

In addition, within the private cloud infrastructure, BTG can include NetScaler appliances for server load balancing and CloudPortal Services Manager to provide self-service functionality to the customer, such as adding and deleting email users.

“We’ve seen time and time again where customers have chosen to partner with BTG based on the fact we are using Citrix as the enabling technology for the delivery of services,” Widener says.

Getting the greatest value from Citrix resources

As a Citrix Service Provider and Silver Citrix Solution Advisor, award-winning BTG knows the true value of Citrix solutions as they not only deliver them, but use them internally.

The geographically dispersed organization relies heavily on Citrix virtual desktops, Citrix ShareFile for internal and external collaboration and documentation throughout the sales process, and GoToMeeting for sales demos and troubleshooting.

A collaborative relationship with their Citrix partner manager, access to competitive intelligence about solutions and escalation of support issues all contribute to BTG’s strong partnership with Citrix, something their customers also value.

Widener concluded, “Telling customers that we use Citrix-based technologies for delivery of cloud-hosted services and have insight into the Citrix technology roadmap adds major value to our overall solution portfolio.”

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John Carey is senior director of worldwide channel programs strategy at Citrix. In his current role, he has responsibility for program structure and strategy for each of Citrix’s preferred routes to market, from Solution Advisors to Service Providers. In this role he has led a restructure of the global CSA program and launched a new partner incentive program – Opportunity Registration for Citrix networking products, and updated the company’s award-winning partner incentive program, Advisor Rewards. This January his team launched an updated Citrix Solution Advisor program and Specializations making competence the cornerstone to partner value. During his 16-year tenure at Citrix, Carey has held positions in Northern Europe, EMEA and the U.S. Carey developed the EMEA Subscription Advantage business between 2004 and 2006, delivering double digit growth and 80 percent on-time renewal rate managed exclusively via the Citrix channel. He also launched the Global Citrix Enterprise License program for commercial customers and the Citrix Service Provider partner program, which continues to experience rich growth since its official launch in 2009. Carey holds a bachelor’s degree from Bristol University.